Scale.



PATBNTED MAR. 3, 1903.

E. FINN.

SCALE.

APPLICATION nun no.3, 1900. nnxswnn JAN. 5. 1903.

I0 IODIIL.

W W I In: news vETsns co woruumo wsumcmu, o. c.

UNITE STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

EDXVIN FINN, OF ELKHART, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TOWALTER F. STIMPSON, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

scAL a.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 721,879, dated March 3,1903. Application filed December 3,1900. Renewed January 5,1903. SerialIto-137.949. (No model.)

To all whom it 77mg; concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN FINN, a citizen of the United States, residingat Elkhart, in the county of Elkhart and State of Indiana,

haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Scales, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Myinvention relates particularly to locking means for securing the poiseof a computingscale beam. It is common to employsmooth beams in scalesof this type to facilitate the movement of the poise; and my object isto provide a simple device for effectively locking the poise in anyposition when it is desired to do so.

One form of locking device embodying my improvement is illustrated inthe accompanying drawings.

A represents a revoluble computing-scale 2o beam supplied with acomputingcard a, and B a poise supplied with an improved locking deviceb. The beam shown is of a now wellknown construction having a metallicrectangular frame, which receives the comput- 2 5 ing-card. The metallicframe has smooth side faces and smooth edges, and, as is common in thisconstruction, the beam passes through the poise. The card is shownprovided with weight-indicating characters l and 2, giving a capacity oftwo pounds, and

with graduations subdividing the pound-graduations into twentieths of apound. The poise is shown with price-indicating characters 20, 30, and40, and at suitable in- 3 5 tervals the card is supplied withcost-indicating characters 5, l0, 15, &c. Thus in the first horizontalline of graduations, which is the line along which the price-indicatingcharacter 20 is moved, the figure 4o 5 appears adjacent to the line onthe card which indicates one-fourth of a pound, this being the price ofone-fourth of a pound at twenty cents a pound. The other computationsare arrived at in the same manner.

The beam and poise here shown are of a well-known general construction,my invention residing wholly in the novel locking device employed inconnection with the poise.

The locking-device 1) comprises a compara 5o tively stiff spring, whichpasses through a slot b in the poise and is pivotally connected at oneend by means of a pivot 19 to one side of the poise. The free end of thespring is provided with a friction-lug 12 which may be brought intocontact with the metallic frame of the beam to lock the poise inposition. Preferably a perforation b is provided for receiving said lug.The locking device is normally out of engagement with the beam in theposition indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1. The full lines show theposition when the poise islocked to the beam. Both the exposed portionof the spring and the concealed portion thereof lie substantiallyparallel with the poise and occupy but small space. As shown in Fig. 2,there is ample room between a side of the poise and the computing-cardfor the spring to lie in. When the poise is locked,

the friction member in use is in engagement with the adjacent portion ofthe beam-frame, and when the poise is unlocked the free ends of thefriction members bear upon adjacent portions of the poise. To look orunlock the poise, therefore, it is only necessary to swing the frictionmember which chances to be on the side of the poise which is being used.

It is customary to provide computations on both sides of the card and toprovide price- -indicating characters on both sides of the poise.Accordingly it is desirable to provide a second locking device, aduplicate of the .one described, at the opposite edge of the beam and onthe reverse side of the beam. This is illustrated in Fig. 2, and it isonly necessary to remark that the characters on the re verse side of thecard are reversed from the characters shown in order that they mayappear right side up when the beam is revolved to bring the reverse sideto the view of the user. 0

The device may be varied in minor details of construction, the essentialfeature being that of a frictional member for engaging the metallicframe of the beam, said member being carried by the poise and preferablycon- 5 nected therewith by a pivot perpendicular to a side of the poise.7

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination witha computing-scale rco beam, of a poise throughwhich said beam passes, and a friction member carried by said poise andheld out of engagement with the beam by the poise during movementthereof and serving to engage a smooth metallic portion of the beam whenit is desired to lock the poise, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a com puting-scale beam having a smoothrectangular frame, a hollow rectangular poise through which said frameextends, and a friction member connected with a side of said poise nearan end thereof by a pivot perpendicular to said side and bearing uponthe poise during movement of the poise and movable into engagment with alateral surface of the adjacent portion of said frame for locking thepoise, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a beam of the character described and a poise ofthe character described, ofa friction member pivoted to said poise on apivot perpendicular to a side thereof and bearing upon the poise duringmovement of the poise, said poise being provided with a perforationthrough which a portion of said friction member extends and saidfriction member being movable into engagement with the beam for lockingthe poise, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination with a scale-beam having a smooth surface, of a poisemovable longitudinally of said beam, and a spring carried by said poiseand movable into and out of engagement with said beam and bearing uponthe poise during movement of the poise, substantially as described.

5. The combination With a beam of the character described and a poise ofthe character described, of a pivoted spring carried by said poise andheld out of engagement with the beam by said poise, said spring be ingmovable into engagement with the beam for locking the poise,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. The combination with abeam and poise of the character described, offriction members connected with said poise at opposite ends of the poiseand on opposite sides of the poise and movable into engagement with theadjacent portions of the beam and out of engagement with the beam duringmovement of the poise, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

E DWIN FINN.

In presence of D. W. LEE, ALBERT D. BAOOI.

